Woolnut Leather Sleeves for MacBook are great. I’ve been using one for MacBook Air for the last couple of months, and I really like it. The leather is high quality, the stitching is strong, and the wool felt liner on the inside keeps a grip on your MacBook without scratching it.

Woolnut MacBook Leather Sleeves for MacBook Air in Black

Woolnut MacBook Leather Sleeves for MacBook

Woolnut sent me two sleeves, one Cognac Brown and one Black. They’re identical in terms of build and quality, and I focused on the black one.

I’ve used many MacBook sleeves over the year, and my Woolnut sleeve is the tightest I’ve used. Slipping my 13-inch MacBook Air inside took some work when it was new. Once I’d slipped it in and out a few times, it no longer took work, while maintaining that grip.

The sleeve is about 2-3 millimeters longer than my MacBook Air. That gives it an overhang so I can be sure my MacBook Air is all the way inside, not so much that it gets in the way of a charging cable. In the photo below, I inserted my MacBook Air until it was flush for scale.

Woolnut Leather Sleeve with a MacBook Air inside

All in all, this sleeve is sturdy, snug, and has great feel and smell. You know, if you like the way leather smells.

Materials

The outside of MacBook Leather Sleeve From Woolnut is, as noted, leather. The company uses a vegetable tanning method in Black and Cognac Brown. The inside is felt made from what the company says is 100% natural wool. That felt is gray for both sleeve colors.

Inside Woolnut Leather Sleeve

Stitching is tight, uniform, and strong. The thread matches the leather in color, making it unobtrusive. If the company offered a cream-colored stitching, I’d probably choose that, but as it is, the stitching matters most in terms of strength. At the lip of the sleeve, the stitching loops around the outside of the sleeve several times for extra strength where any sleeve gets the most stress.

Why I Like the Woolnut Leather Sleeve for MacBook

I love leather cases for my iOS devices, and I like to carry my MacBook Air in a sleeve, especially when it’s leather. Your mileage may vary on that front. What I’m looking for in a sleeve is protection from the environment and scratches. I also don’t want it to add significantly to the footprint of my MacBook Air.

I have this great Waterfield messenger-bag-style laptop bag (thanks, Mom!), and a fat case or sleeve simply wouldn’t fit. This Woolnut sleeve gives me the protection I want, keeps a firm grip on my MacBook Air, and does so without dramatically increasing its footprint.

Because it’s leather, it also serves as a great heatshield on my lap. If I’m working at a table, I’ve found that the leather makes a nice grippy surface so it doesn’t slide around.

In short, Woolnut hits all the right points for my personal use, and it does so at a reasonable cost. 12-inch MacBook sleeves are €60 (US$70.40). That’s not cheap for a sleeve, but it’s quite reasonable for a leather sleeve of this quality.